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Walter Ker and the “Sweet Singers”D O U G L A S W. B . S O M E R S E T

Walter Ker was a Scottish Covenanter who was banished to EastJersey in 1685, was instrumental in the setting up of Presby-

terianism in America, and lived to see the revivals there under WilliamTennent, David Brainerd and others in the 1730s and 1740s. This articlelooks at the first part of Walter Ker’s life, when he was in Scotland andwas associated with the fanatical group called the Gibbites or “SweetSingers”.1 The story of the Gibbites is one of the curiosities of ScottishChurch history.

1. Ker joins the “Sweet Singers”

Walter Ker was born in Torphichen in Linlithgowshire, Scotland, in 1656or 1657.2 Nothing is known of his parentage or early years, butpresumably he was brought up in a Covenanting family. He was presentat the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in June 1679, and about that time he wasemployed as a servant by Marion MacCulloch (d. 1690), the second wife

1 A short account of the Gibbites can be found in Maurice Grant, No King But Christ(Darlington, 1988), pp. 158-164. Since this article was largely written, a detailed accountof the Gibbites, with many excellent pictures and a lot of geographical information, hasappeared on Dr Mark Jardine’s blog: drmarkjardine.wordpress.com. Inevitably there is aconsiderable overlap with parts of the present article, but Dr Jardine’s approach issubstantially different.2 Patrick Walker, Six Saints of the Covenant (2 vols., London, 1901), Vol. 2, p. 24. Ker issometimes described as “from the parish of Dalserf, Lanarksire”, with the implicationthat he was born there; see e.g., William C. Armstrong, The Kerr Clan of New Jersey(Morrison, Illinois, 1931), p. 5. Dalserf, however, was simply the last parish in which heresided prior to his exile, Robert Wodrow, History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland(ed. R. Burns, 4 vols., Glasgow), Vol. 4, p. 183.

Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, 2 (2012), 85-108 ISSN 2045-4570

of the prominent Covenanter Sir James Stewart of Coltness.3 Sir Jameshad been a member of the Scottish Parliament in 1649-50 and wasseveral times Lord Provost of Edinburgh. He was imprisoned for longperiods after 1660 and also heavily fined. He died on 31st March 1681aged 73. One of his sons, Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, was the (joint)author of Naphtali in 1667 and of Jus Populi Vindicatum in 1669, and wassubsequently Lord Advocate of Scotland from 1692-1709 and 1711-13.

At the beginning of 1681, Walter Ker became involved with agroup known as the Gibbites or “Sweet Singers”, which becameincreasingly fanatical. Their leader, John Gibb, was a sailor from Bo’ness(about six miles north of Torphichen), known as “Meikle” John onaccount of his gigantic size. He was a Covenanter, and appears to havebeen involved in the importing of illegal covenanting books, such asNaphtali and Jus Populi Vindicatum. On 11th November 1680 the PrivyCouncil received

a petition given in by the owners and proprietors of the ship calledThe John of Borrowstouness which was arrested on the account ofJohn Gibb, late master and purser of the said ship, for his allegedcorrespondence with some rebels and traitors in Holland andbringing home seditious books, desiring that, in regard the saidJohn Gibb was only a servant and neither has nor had interest inthe ship and that he made his escape before the ship came toBorrowstouness, and the ship being in danger to perish . . . that thearrest might be taken off.

The crave of the petition was granted on 16th November 1680.4

About the end of 1680, Donald Cargill, the only Cameronian field-preacher still active, withdrew to England for a short while, and many ofhis followers were tempted to think that their leader had failed them.Gibb took the opportunity to advance himself as the head of the lasttruly faithful remnant left in Scotland. From the start, however, hismovement had a bizarre aspect. Here is a description from ananonymous contemporary document.

Mr Donald Cargill his disciples have now set up their altar inBorrowstouness to the number of 30 or 40, being for the most part

3 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2 (Third Series, Vol. 7, Edinburgh, 1915), p. 123.4 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1678-80 (Third Series, Vol. 6, Edinburgh, 1914), pp.570-1.

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women; [they] assemble in the night time sometimes in the links ofBorrowstouness, sometimes in a kill logie [kiln] near the town, andin the day time in a house belonging to Thomas Knox, skipperthere. They maintain strange tenets:

1. They admit none to their society but such of whose prayer theyhave taken trial. 2. They maintain that any person that is giftedmay preach and baptize, and accordingly they have been earnestwith one that is son to David Jamie, merchant in Linlithgow, totake upon him that sacred office. 3. They hold that a woman thatis gifted may preach as well as a man; only they allow a woman notto baptize. Accordingly one of these holy sisters made a sermonlately at one of their meetings upon that text 2 Cor 6:11-18.4. They will not work with their hands but they employ themselvesonly in reading, preaching, conference, and prayer. They eat nomore bread than will keep them from starving, and they term allmechanics [labourers and artisans] limbs of Antichrist. 5. Theyadhere to the New Covenant,5 their excommunication of the Kingand Duke of York,6 etc. 6. They have at one of their meetingsexcommunicated one Mr Robert Steedman and Mr MichaelPotter,7 their old rabies [rabbis], together with other nine of theirrelations and neighbours in Borrowstouness, all of which are greatfanaticks, and it is observable that one of the sweet quorum issister to Archibald Stewart8 that was lately executed, and that shehath excommunicated Christian Dasten her mother, together with

5 i.e. the Queensferry paper of 3rd June 1680, also called Cargill’s Covenant, see e.g. J. C.Johnston, Treasury of Scottish Covenant (Edinburgh, 1887), pp. 134-141.6 i.e. the Torwood Excommunication of September 1680, see Cloud of Witnesses(Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1989), pp. 507-10.7 Steedman had been minister of Carriden near Bo’ness and was deposed in 1661 forrefusing to conform to Episcopacy. He and Potter both held conventicles, for which Potterwas imprisoned on the Bass Rock from 1683-5. Steedman was restored as minister ofCarriden after the Revolution of 1689, and Potter became minister of Bo’ness. 8 Archibald Stewart of Bo’ness, was executed, together with John Potter from Uphall andJames Skene from Aberdeenshire on 1st December 1680. Stewart and Potter had been atAyrsmoss with Richard Cameron in July 1680 and had signed the Bond of MutualDefence, Cloud of Witnesses, p. 500. Other Bo’ness martyrs were Marion Harvey, executedwith Isobel Alison of Perth on 26th January 1681, and William Cuthill, executed withDonald Cargill and others on 27th July 1681. Their various testimonies are given in Cloudof Witnesses. Cuthill had been associated with Gibb but later disowned him, see MauriceGrant, Preacher to the Remnant (Edinburgh, 2009), p. 266. For the connection of thecovenanting martyrs Gogar, Sangster and Miller with Gibb, see Dr Jardine’s blog under“The Notorious Traitors: Gogar, Sangster and the Sweet Singers of Israel”.

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John Ritchie, elder, and his wife, she being their daughter-in-law;she hath also separated from her husband John Ritchie, becausehe sails in a ship that pays tribute to Charles Stuart [Charles II].7. They give new names to them they admit in their fraternity, viz.,Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, Rehoboam, Deborah, Lydia, theQueen of Sheba, etc. 8. Because one of the sisters went to a pennywedding the rest caused her to do penance by sitting three nights. . . on a cold stone, and at last father Abraham absolved her bypronouncing these words, “Thou art welcome, Sarah, to the landof Goshen”. Lastly, they prophesy concerning Mr Steedman andMr Potter that the chariots of Israel shall ride through their hearts’blood, but of Mr Hamilton and Mr Park9 they hope better things,for they say that these two were always in darkness and that it mayplease the Lord to give them light, whereas Steedman and Potterhave made defection from the light, and therefore being apostatesthere is no hope of mercy for them. And to all this I must add, theyhave two bloody napkins besmeared with the blood of their latemartyr Mr Stewart, and at their meetings they wave them beforethe Lord, calling for vengeance on the shedders of that blood.10

The authorities were at once suspicious of the Gibbites, and firstapprehended them in February.

On the 21 of February 1681, there were brought in fromBorrowstouness a company of distracted men and women (for Iknow not what other name to give them); they called themselvesthe only true saints, declared for Cargill’s covenant,11 had a napkindipped in the blood of Stewart and Potter, who were hanged andheaded on 1 of December last, and weaved it in their prayersbefore the Lord, crying for vengeance on the murderers; and inthis furious posture, worse than Quakers and enthusiasts, run upand down that town, disowned the King and all government, andfollowed a sailor named Gibb, who had now assumed the name ofKing Solomon (for they, instead of their former names, take names

9 James Hamilton and John Park were the curates of Bo’ness and Carriden respectively.For their pursuit of Covenanters they are characterized as “bloodhounds” in Cloud ofWitnesses, p. 512, and as “sons of Belial” in Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 13.10 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, pp. 704-5.11 It is noteworthy that the Gibbites were still Covenanters at this stage. They were soonto renounce all covenants.



out of the Old Testament, as Abram, etc.): And such as havehusbands, not of their own opinion, they are so far fromconversing with them that they will not suffer them to touchthem, and if any do, they wash the place as having contractedimpurity, like the Jewish ceremonial uncleanness, with a hundredsuch fopperies.12

For whatever reason, Gibb and his followers were not detained,and soon afterwards they left Bo’ness and took to the muirs. PatrickWalker gives a description of them at this stage:

These people at first were commonly called “Sweet Singers” fromtheir frequently meeting together, and singing these tearful psalmsover the mournful case of the Church, Psal. 74, 79, 80, 83, 137.Thus they continued from the beginning of the year until April;then all with one consent, that they might be free of all theseforesaid things [i.e. the sins of being involved with a backslidingnation], left their houses, warm soft beds, covered tables; some ofthem their husbands and children, weeping upon them to staywith them;13 some women taking the sucking child in their armsto desert places, to be free of all snares and sins, and communionwith all others, and to mourn for their own sins, the land’s tyrannyand defection, and there be safe from the land’s utter ruin anddesolations by judgments; some of them going to Pentland-hills, with a resolution to sit there to see the smoke and utter ruinof the sinful bloody city Edinburgh (but if they had fulfilledtheir resolution they would have been sadly weather-beaten theseforty-eight years, being lately gone to their graves).14

The main party proceeded towards the west of Scotland,seeking to gather support. Initially there was considerable interest, asWodrow records:

John Gibb, and some few that were with him, laid aside allbusiness, pretending to spend all their time in fasting, prayer,and other acts of devotion, came out from Bo’ness taking their

12 Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, Historical Observes of Memorable Occurrents in Church andState, 1680-6 (Edinburgh, 1840), pp. 28-9.13 Gibb and one of his men, David Jamieson, carried pistols to deter any husbands fromtrying to see their wives, Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 22.14 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 19.

way south and west. Where they came they enjoined publicacknowledgments to be made by all persons guilty of com-pliance, hearing the curates, and the like; and Gibb, asspokesman, took on him to rebuke, reject, or receive intofellowship with them. Their zeal and seeming devotion mademany run to them, and they came the length of the parish ofStrathaven making proselytes.

Gibb’s true character, however, soon betrayed itself. Wodrowrelates how Gibb was confronted “toward Eaglesham Muirs” by three“worthy and judicious” Covenanters, James Gray of Chryston,15 JamesSloss of Glasgow, and James Baird.16 The outcome was that Gibb brokeout into cursings and “many other horrid expressions, which frightenedthe people so much that they left him.”17

From this point on Gibb’s followers consisted of “about twenty-sixwomen and three men”, the men being Walter Ker, David Jamie orJamieson, and John Young. Patrick Walker says that the greater part ofthose who joined Gibb were “serious, exercised, tender, zealous, gracioussouls, who stumbled upon that stumbling-block laid in their way, ofministers’ compliance, silence, and unfaithfulness”.18 Soon afterwards,in the second half of April, Cargill returned from England, and one of

15 James Gray suffered greatly for his covenanting principles. His son James had beenkilled at Ayrsmoss, and he himself was shipped to Jamaica on John Ewing’s ship (seebelow) in August 1685, Wodrow, History, Vol. 3, pp. 220, 263-4, 391-3. On his return fromJamaica, he supplied Wodrow with information for his History, see James Anderson,Ladies of the Covenant (Glasgow, 1856), p. 139. Patrick Walker, however, did not have a highregard for him, Six Saints, Vol. 1, p. 307. 16 John Howie (1735-1793) locates this incident at Lochgoin, The Judgment and Justice of GodExemplified (Glasgow, 1782), p. 60. His great-grandfather, who died in 1691, was the tenantin Lochgoin at the time, and his grandfather (1665-1755) was in his teens, so Howie waslikely to be accurately informed on the event.17 Wodrow, History, Vol. 3, p. 349.18 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 18. The Gibbite movement evidently had considerable plausibilityat first, for all its subsequent absurdities. Law records that “there was one minister’s wifethat turned to that way”, Robert Law, Memorialls (Edinburgh, 1818), p. 186. PatrickWalker more than once mentions that he was strongly tempted to join the movement,although he never met Gibb, Six Saints, Vol. 1, p. 286, Vol. 2, p. 23. One “Sweet Singer”from the upper classes was “Lady C.” whom we would tentatively identify with theseparatist Lady Carlops to whom Archibald Riddell wrote in 1698, Robert Wodrow,Analecta (4 vols., Glasgow, 1842-3), Vol. 1, p. 278; T. M‘Crie, Memoirs of Mr William Veitchand George Brysson (Edinburgh, 1825), p. 523; Alasdair Raffe, Religious Controversy andScottish Society, c. 1679-1714, University of Edinburgh, PhD Thesis, 2007, p. 164. LadyCarlops was presumably the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Burnet of Carlopsand the mother of the Jacobite Archibald Burnet of Carlops, executed after the battle ofPreston in 1715, Works of Alexander Pennecuik (Leith, 1815), pp. 114-5.


his first actions was to hold a debate with the Gibbites at Darngavil nearDarmead. He had no success in reclaiming any of them at this stage.19

2. Arrest and Imprisonment

A few weeks later, about the middle of May,20 the Gibbites were arrestedby a troop of dragoons, probably at Wolf Craigs on the south side of thePentland hills.21 The Memoirs of the Lord Viscount Dundee, first published in1714, contains the following account of their arrest:

When a party of dragoons took them at the Ouffins, in Tweeddale,they were all lying on their faces, and jumped up in a minute, andcalled out with an audible voice, “That God Almighty wouldconsume the party with fire from heaven, for troubling thepeople of God”. On the road, as they went to Edinburgh, whenany of their relations or acquaintances came to visit them, theyspit at them, and threw themselves on their faces, and bellowedlike beasts, whereof his Highness [the Duke of York, laterJames VII] being informed, ordered them immediately to be setat liberty.22

In Edinburgh the men were imprisoned in the CanongateTolbooth (at the bottom of the Royal Mile) and the women in theCorrection House (at the north east corner of what is now Waverley

19 Darngavil Farm is presently a ruin. The details of the encounter are given in Six Saints,Vol. 2, pp. 20-3; Grant, No King But Christ, pp. 159-160; and Dr Jardine’s blog under“Donald Cargill, the Sweet Singers and the Darngavil Conference”.20 Walker places their arrest “in the beginning of May”, Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 23, but the“Blasphemous Paper” (see below) indicates that it was the middle of May or later. In the“Blasphemous Paper” the Gibbites mention that they saw the dragoons coming an hourbefore they were captured.21 Walker says that they were captured at “the Woollhill Craigs betwixt Lothian andTweddale, a very desert place”, Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 23. Dr Jardine’s blog under “TheCapture of the Sweet Singers” gives reasons for identifying this with Wolf Craigs, ratherthan with Wool Hill, which is between Dunbar Common and the Whiteadder reservoir.Wolf Craigs is about four miles due west of Carlops, which might be significant if LadyCarlops was indeed a “Sweet Singer”.22 Henry Jenner (ed.), Memoirs of the Lord Viscount Dundee (London, 1903), p. lxxiv. We havenot been able to identify “the Ouffins”. Law, Memorialls, p. 185, speaks of “five men andten women” of the Gibbites “taken about Cather Moor of Borrowstounness” in May 1681.Whether this was in fact the February arrest, the May arrest wrongly located, or the arrestof another group of Gibbites, is not clear. When brought before the Privy Council thefive men refused to uncover their heads until compelled “in token that they owned nottheir authority”.


Station). At their initial examination before the Privy Council on 2ndJune, the women were stubborn:

Several persons called the Sweet Singers, prisoners in Paul’s Work[the Correction House], being examined, and having given nosatisfaction, but on the contrary, disowned the King and hisauthority and the present government in Church and State, theywere remitted back to prison until the Council consider theircase.23

In the prison they were visited by the widows of James Durhamand William Guthrie, whom they received with abuse:

When honest women, minister’s wives, came to see them, theybegan to rail upon them and upbraid them with the name ofJezebel, and call them reprobates. Mr Durham’s wife and MrWilliam Guthrie’s wife were so upbraided.24

On another occasion they expressed their disdain for the Dukeof York:

Some of their women singers were so rude as to throw outbroken chandlers [candles] and other trash at the Duke of York’scoach, as it passed by the Canongate prison; for which they wereseverely lashed.25

Most of the women were soon released, however, “as their friendsand husbands loved and had moyen [means]”.26 On 9th June, forinstance, the Privy Council received a petition from John Ritchie“supplicating that the Council would cause liberate Margaret Stewart,his spouse, . . . in regard she is big with child and that he intends totransport her shortly off the kingdom”. The petition was granted,although the arrangement subsequently fell through.27 Similarly on14th June William Dennistoun of Colgrain petitioned the Council,

23 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, p. 123.24 Law, Memorialls, p. 186.25 Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, Historical Notices of Scotish Affairs (2 vols, Edinburgh,1848), Vol. 1, p. 300.26 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 23.27 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, p. 129. Margaret Stewart was thesister of the Bo’ness martyr Archibald Stewart. She appears to have been the same personas Anna or Ann Stewart (see below).


for removing Janet Elphinstone, relict of Hugh Moir, merchant inEdinburgh, from the company of those persons called “SweetSingers”, now in the Correction House of Edinburgh, to someremoter place, in regard the petitioner and her other friends arehopeful in a short time to reclaim her from their deludedprinciples.

The crave was granted and she was ordered to be transferred to a prisonin Dumbarton.28

Meanwhile at the end of May,29 the four men had issued a papershowing signs of insanity, possibly brought on by excessive fasting. In thepaper they renounce the heathen names for days of the week and monthsof the year, the division of the Bible into chapters and verses, the metricalpsalms,30 the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Confession of Faith,the Covenants, the Queensferry paper and the Sanquhar Declaration,the Covenanters, the “tyrant Charles Stuart”, and many other things,culminating in “all the customs and fashions” of their generation, and“all authority throughout the world”.31 Probably the paper was drawn upby David Jamieson who was the most educated of the Sweet Singers.32

Patrick Walker says that the Gibbites were given “large money” by the

28 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, p. 131. Janet Elphinstone was the“Mrs Moor” who helped Cargill and Boig escape in November 1680, Six Saints, Vol. 2,p. 16; Grant, No King But Christ, p. 260. Her father David Elphinstone had been ministerof Dumbarton from 1633-66, Law’s Memorialls, p. 186. Her mother’s maiden name wasDennistoun, and she was “an only bairn”, so William Dennistoun was presumably acousin. At a general confession of the “Sweet Singers”, she had confessed the sin of ante-nuptual fornication, ibid., p. 197; Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 20. In 1686 she was married to JohnFlint (1660-1730), one of the Cameronian students for the ministry, W.H. Carslaw (ed.),Life and Letters of James Renwick (Edinburgh, 1893), p. 181. After the Revolution, Flintbecame Church of Scotland minister in Lasswade and then in the New North Church,Edinburgh, and he helped Thomas Boston in revising The Fourfold State.29 The paper was endorsed by the Clerk of the Privy Council for 1st May, but this isevidently a mistake for 1st June. The stages in which the paper was written indicate thedates on which various things were renounced. There is a slight discrepancy (probably amisprint) in these, but the two references to “the sixth day of the week, the 27th day ofthe fifth month” harmonize with the fact that 27th May fell on a Friday in 1681.30 Later in the paper they seem to allow the metrical psalms, but not the binding of themin the back of the Bible: they had to be bound separately.31 Wodrow, History, Vol. 3, pp. 350-3.32 Cargill described Jamieson as “a good scholar lost, and a minister spilt”, Six Saints,Vol. 2, p. 22. Jardine suggests that Jamieson may have been one of the United Societies’students at Utrecht intended for the ministry, Mark Jardine, The United Societies: Militancy,Martyrdom and the Presbyterian Movement in Late-Restoration Scotland, 1679 to 1688, Universityof Edinburgh, PhD Thesis, 2009, p. 40.


Duke of York to write this paper, while Wodrow suggests that they wereinfluenced by “the Duke’s Jesuits”, but it is difficult to know how muchsubstance there is in these claims.33 Certainly the paper was takenadvantage of by the authorities, and immediately published, inEdinburgh and in London, under the title “A Blasphemous and TreasonablePaper, emitted by the Phanatical Undersubscribers”, with the intention ofdiscrediting the entire Covenanting movement.34 In 1691 it was re-published by an Episcopalian, along with the Sanquhar Declaration andthe Solemn League and Covenant, in order to “inform strangers of theseditious principles of Scotch Presbyterians”.35

Donald Cargill’s response to this paper was to send a letter to thewomen still imprisoned in the Correction House, endeavouring to refutesome of the wild Gibbite ideas. He seems to have no great hope for themen at that stage, but to have believed that the women might yet berescued from their errors.36 This letter was first published in Cloud ofWitnesses in 1714. Cargill takes up such points as the duty of working, theduties of husbands and wives, the fact that the buyer is not responsible forthe use that the seller makes of the money, the necessity of public worshipwhen possible, the need for translations of the Bible, the lawfulness of theCovenants, and the need in this life to engage in public worship withunregenerate persons. With regard to heathen names for days andmonths, Cargill warns them not to place too much emphasis on suchpoints, to the neglect of weightier matters, lest, he says, Satan “overdriveyou in your progress, and leave you only to hug a spurious birth”.37

The only record of the men’s examination by the Privy Council isof Walter Ker on 2nd June:

33 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 24; Wodrow, History, Vol. 3, p. 352.34 The Queensferry paper and Sanquhar Declaration had been similarly printed by theauthorities. Copies of the Edinburgh printing of “The Blasphemous Paper” are in theNational Library of Scotland and the British Library; and copies of the London printingare in the British Library and the Huntington Library, California.35 Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, Vindication of the Government of Scotland underCharles II (London, 1691), p. 37. Wodrow says that he would have ignored “the raveriesand blasphemy” of Gibb and his followers but for the fact that the publisher of Sir GeorgeMackenzie’s Vindication “hath the impudence and villainy to couple Gibb’s senselesspaper with the Solemn League and Covenant”, History, Vol. 3, p. 348.36 Law says that the women “in the Correction House refused to subscribe [the paper],but counted [the four men] devils”, Memorialls, p. 190.37 For a fuller discussion of Cargill’s letter, see Grant, No King But Christ, pp. 161-3. Cargillhimself was captured on 13th July, imprisoned in the Canongate Tolbooth on 14th, andexecuted at the Mercat Cross at the east end of St Giles on 27th July.


The Committee having called Walter Ker, one of the SweetSingers, prisoner, he did disown the King to be king and did notacknowledge his authority; confessed that he was at BothwellBridge, and said he is sorry for it because the cause was not God’s,and gives the reason because the King, who is the enemy of God,was owned.38

By the end of the month, however, they were beginning to changetheir minds. On 23rd June Fountainhall records: “Four of the men calledthe ‘Sweet Singers’ . . . turning more sober, retracted part of their formerextravagancies, and, before the Secret [Privy] Council, declared that theythought it not lawful to rise in arms against the Magistrate’s authority,though in their printed testimony the Spirit did then suggest thecontrary to them.”39 The same day, two female Sweet Singers, ChristianCunningham and Elspeth Lockhart, successfully petitioned the PrivyCouncil and were set at liberty, having “renounced and abjured thesedamnable and seditious principles”.40

3. Release and the burning of the Bible

The four men and the two remaining women were released on 2ndAugust 1681: “The Lords, having considered the condition of theseprisoners called ‘Sweet Singers’ in the Canongate Tolbooth andCorrection House, namely David Jamieson, John Gib, Walter Ker, JohnYoung, Elspeth Granger, Margaret Stewart, spouse to John Ritchie,skipper in Borrowstouness,41 do give order to the magistrates to set themat liberty, provided that under their hands they abjure their disloyalprinciples once owned by them.”42 It was generally believed that the

38 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, p. 123.39 Historical Notices, Vol. 1, p. 300.40 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, p. 145. The records of the OldTolbooth (which stood at the west end of St Giles Cathedral) mention the transfer of thewomen from the Correction House to the Tolbooth for the hearing of their petition, TheBook of the Old Edinburgh Club (Edinburgh, 1916), Vol. 8, p. 109. The Privy Councilprobably met in a chamber adjoining Parliament House, behind St Giles. Two otherfemale “Sweet Singers” whose names have been preserved are a woman “sirnamedRussell” (Law, Memorialls, p. 197) and “Isobel Calender” whose husband had beenexecuted, presumably as a martyr, and who had abandoned her tiny child to follow Gibb,see Passages in the Lives of Helen Alexander and James Currie (Belfast, 1869), p. 28.41 Perhaps Margaret Stewart had refused to be released on her husband’s terms.42 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, p. 177.


Duke of York played the leading part in their liberation.43 Another SweetSinger, William Pender, who had probably separated from the Gibbitesprior to his imprisonment, was ordered to be released on 11th August.44

By this point almost all the women had deserted Gibb. Walkerrecords: “The greater part of [the women] came to their right mind, afterthey had tasted of the bitter fruits of these demented delusions, withwhom I have had edifying conversation since.”45 The Cameronians,however, were slow to receive them back. Five years later, on 23rdSeptember 1686 the General Meeting of the Society People appointedsix men

to confer with Samuel Hall, Marion Stuart, Elizabeth Wilson, JeanHackstoun, and Marion Young who had been in the fields withthat wretched man John Gibb, to try (not judicially but privately)how great a length they went in their blasphemies and scandalouspractices with the said John Gibb.46

The following year Alexander Shields wrote that, while “the mostpart [of the Gibbites] have been through mercy reclaimed from thatdestructive way”, yet “to this day these that have come off from that way,and have offered the confession of their scandal do still complain of [our]over-rigid severity, in not admitting them to [our] select fellowships”.47 Aslate as 1689, some of those who had been with “that impostor John Gibb”made a confession of their error “before a great multitude of people”while renewing the Covenants at “the black hill of Lesmahagow” onSabbath 3rd March.48

The men, however, and two of the women, continued with Gibb,and though they may have renounced their “disloyal principles”, theyretained the rest of their opinions. Soon after their release, says PatrickWalker, they “went west to the Frost Moss, betwixt Airth and Stirling,

43 “Whereas the persecuting Courts of Inquisition did always extend the utmost severityagainst the owners of this Testimony (the Covenants), yet they spared [the Gibbites]: andthe Duke of York, then in Scotland, was so well-pleased with Gibb’s blasphemies that hefavoured him extraordinarily, and freely dismissed him,” Alexander Shields, A Hind LetLoose (1687), p. 140.44 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1681-2, Vol. 7, pp. 181, 189.45 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 23.46 John Howie, Faithful Contendings Displayed (Glasgow, 1780), p. 260.47 Hind Let Loose, p. 140.48 Faithful Contendings Displayed, p. 381; Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 19.


where they burnt the Holy Bible” and also the Westminster Confession.49

He goes on:

Shortly after this Walter Ker turned mad, and was for some timebound in Torphichen, where he was born. He came to his rightmind again, and went to Clyde, a mile beneath Lanark, to thehouse of Robert and Elisabeth Bruce, two old solid seriousChristians, both my acquaintances, who got a hearty smack of thesweetness of the gospel in that good day at the Kirk of Shotts,where he served two years, and deeply mourned both night andday for what he had done; and wrote 38 steps thereof. Hesometimes said, if there were a Christian magistrate in the land, hewould go to them and confess all, and seek of them to executejustice upon him for burning of the Bible.

He believed that he deserved to be banished for what he had done.John Young, meanwhile “went into Lothian after that, and kept a school,lived retired, and spoke little”.50

The history of the remaining Gibbites is uncertain at this point.Gibb, Jamieson, the two women, and a new man, AlexanderMontgomery, continued their mad career, but what they did prior totheir re-imprisonment we do not know.51 On 24th June 1682 about ahundred people in Linlithgow were fined by the magistrates for“disorderly” non-attendance at the parish church. Jamieson andMontgomery were among the number. On 18th November they and afew others were imprisoned in Linlithgow for failure to pay their fines,but they might well have been released soon afterwards. On 25thOctober 1683 Jamieson, Montgomery, and their wives, Bessie Todand Margaret Stevenson, were included on the list of those not attend-ing church in Linlithgow. Jamieson is described as a “tailor” and

49 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 24; Hind Let Loose, p. 140. “Frost” is presumably the modernThrosk, sometimes spelt “Frosk”. Walker gives the names of the women as “Isabel Bonn,and another woman whose name I have forgot”. Presumably these are the same asElspeth Granger and Margaret Stewart mentioned above.50 Six Saints, Vol. 2, pp. 24-5. 51 Alexander Montgomery was also known as Alexander Monteith. He appears twice ona list of “disorderly baptisms” in Linlithgow between July 1679 and November 1683,Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1683-4 (Third Series, Vol. 8, Edinburgh, 1915), p. 630.He had been imprisoned in the Edinburgh Tolbooth, along with some other menfrom Linlithgow, in February 1675, The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club (Edinburgh, 1913),Vol. 6, p. 128.


Montgomery as a “sievewright” [sieve maker]. A subsequent documenthowever, dated 20th November 1683, includes Jamieson, Montgomeryand Bessie Tod in a list of people who “for the most part have beenprisoners these eighteen months bygone”.52

Certainly Gibb and some of his company were back in prison inEdinburgh by May 1683, because James Renwick complains in a letterdated 31st May that “John Gibb and his companions are freed both fromdeath and banishment, and have their liberty to go through all theprison, and large expense allowed daily unto them, by him who they callthe Chancellor [i.e. the Duke of York]”.53 Patrick Walker says that Gibb,Jamieson, and the two women from the Frost Moss were “again takenand put in the Canongate Tolbooth” in Edinburgh, but he does not givea date. Presumably this happened in the first half of 1683. In theTolbooth, says Walker,

they took such fits of seven days fasting that their voices werechanged in their groanings and gollerings with pain of hunger, andthen such excessive eating that these with them admired how theirbellies could contain so much. Gibb was so possessed with araging, roving devil that they could not get public worshipperformed three times a day, as their ordinary was in each room.54

By this time they seem almost to have abandoned religion. ACovenanter, Helen Alexander, who was imprisoned with them aboutJuly 1683, said:

But that which was sorest to me – I was brought down from theroom where I was, and put in the room where were John Gibb, andJamieson, and one Sanders Monteith, and Ann Stewart, all vileand abominable blasphemers. That woman would have sewed herseams and wrought on the Lord’s day, and when we were prayingand singing and reading, they did interrupt us. O what grief ofheart it was to me to hear and see their blasphemy. They wouldhave said that they knew of no heaven or hell, nor no God. Andhow beastly they were in lying with one another. And I thought orI had been another Sabbath in their company I would rather

52 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1683-4, Vol. 8, pp. 6-7, 629-32.53 Life and Letters of Renwick, p. 55.54 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 25.


have chosen to go to a gibbet; for this their carriage to me waslike death.55

On 13th May 1684, another Covenanter, George Jackson fromGlasgow, was transferred to the Canongate Tolbooth. Walker relates thatwhen Jackson first heard Gibb disrupting worship with his roaring, heasked, “Is this your ordinar?”. Being told that it was, Jackson said that hewould “stay his roaring”, and having threatened Gibb without effect,he proceeded to beat his head against the wall until he was senseless.Thereafter Gibb would run behind the door with a rag in his mouthwhenever worship started. Jackson was aged twenty at the time. He wasexecuted at Gallowlee on Leith Walk on 9th December 1684.56

4. Banishment to the Plantations

About this time, the lenience of the authorities towards the Gibbitescame to an end. On 16th May 1684, the Privy Council ordered DavidJamieson, along with nine others, “to be banished to the Plantations inAmerica”, instructing them to be delivered to George Lockhart, amerchant in New York, who had a ship at Leith. A bond by Lockhart,acknowledging the receipt of ten prisoners, was signed on 19th May. Inthe bond, however, the names of two of the other prisoners have beenreplaced by those of Gibb and Monteith (i.e. Montgomery), “called SweetSingers”.57 On 27th May, Jamieson and Montgomery (but not Gibb)were listed with four other prisoners from Linlithgow who had “forseveral years past persisted in rebellious courses, and having been takenprisoners and had several opportunities to obtain the benefit of HisMajesty’s indemnity and been examined on several occasions beforethe Council and their committees, have persisted in their wickedprinciples”. Once again the Privy Council ordered them to be banishedto the Plantations, this time giving them to Walter Gibson, merchant in

55 Passages in the Lives of Helen Alexander and James Currie, p. 8. Helen Alexander’s husband,James Currie, records that “Ann Stewart said to my wife, that they must take 24 hoursfor prayer, and yet afterwards would blaspheme terribly”, ibid., p. 28. “Ann Stewart”seems to be the same as “Margaret Stewart, spouse to John Ritchie”. Law says that at thegeneral confession of the “Sweet Singers”, “Anna Stewart confessed adulterie and incest;this is she who forsook her husband and adhered to John Gibb as her husband”,Memorialls, p. 197. 56 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 25-26. Jackson’s testimony is given in Cloud of Witnesses.57 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1683-4, Vol. 8, pp. 516-7, 709-10.


Glasgow, who had a ship at Gourock bound for Carolina.58 On 29th Maythe Privy Council changed its mind once more and this time gave themto Robert Malloch, merchant in Edinburgh, who had a ship at Leithbound for Carolina.59

In the event it was in Lockhart’s ship that Jamieson andMontgomery sailed. The ship left Leith at the end of July, sailed up toAberdeen, round to Killybegs in Donegal, Ireland and then across theAtlantic. On 12th September, six hundred miles from land, the ship losther bowsprit and masts in the tail of a hurricane, but managed to reachChesapeake Bay, Virginia about the beginning of October. Sailing up theBay to Bohemia River, Maryland the passengers disembarked andtravelled overland to New Jersey.60 On arrival, Jamieson was indenturedto Lockhart and “Menteith” (i.e. Montgomery) to Thomas Gordon, oneof the wealthy passengers from the ship.61 Jamieson and Montgomery’swives, Bessie Tod and Margaret Stevenson, did not accompany theirhusbands to America. On 14th Oct 1684 they were included on a list of“disorderly persons” not attending church in the parish of Linlithgow.62

Probably they had abandoned their husbands on account of theirimmoral behaviour.63

58 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1683-4, Vol. 8, pp. 523-4. It seems unlikely thatJamieson and Montgomery were present at this second examination; probably they werejust names on a list. Gibson’s ship, Carolina Merchant, sailed on 21st July. John Erskine ofCarnock gives a detailed account of its departure, his brother Lord Cardross being oneof the passengers. Twenty-seven out of the one hundred and forty people on the ship diedon the voyage, see Journal of Hon. John Erskine of Carnock, 1683-1687 (Scottish HistorySociety, Edinburgh, 1893), pp. 69-72, 139; Wodrow, History, Vol. 4, pp. 8-11.59 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1683-4, Vol. 8, pp. 526-7. Malloch’s ship sailed on14th August, Journal of Hon. John Erskine of Carnock, 1683-1687, p. 76.60 W. A. Whitehead, East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments (Newark, N.J., 1875), pp.452, 459-60. Two ships left Scotland for New Jersey in July 1684. Lockhart’s ship carried160 passengers, while Thomas Pearson (or Parson)’s ship, the Thomas and Benjamin, sailedfrom Montrose with 130 passengers. Pearson’s ship took a more northerly route,encountered contrary winds, and reached New Jersey about the end of October, ibid.,pp. 440, 458, 469, 473.61 William Nelson (ed.), Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey,Calendar of Records 1664-1703 (Paterson, N.J., 1899), Vol. 21, p. 64; W. A. Whitehead,Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy (New York, 1856), p. 40. Thomas Gordon,brother to the Laird of Straloch, Aberdeenshire, was an important figure in East Jersey,holding a number of political and legal positions, see ibid., pp. 60-66.62 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1684-5 (Third Series, Vol. 10, Edinburgh, 1927),pp. 260-1.63 According to Walker, the two female “Sweet Singers” were also banished to America(Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 26). There does not seem to be any confirmation of this in the PrivyCouncil records but the New Jersey records mention “Margaret Sturras” as one of the


Gibb, meanwhile, was left in prison until the following year.Perhaps the beating from George Jackson had rendered him unfit totravel. On 24th July 1685 he was again convened before the PrivyCouncil and his sentence of banishment was confirmed. At this stage hewas imprisoned in the Edinburgh Tolbooth, having previously been heldin the “guardhouse at the Abay”. By the end of the week, he had beenmoved to the Canongate Tolbooth. On 31st July, the Privy Council giftedhim to Robert Barclay of Urie, with a ship bound for East New Jersey buton 7th August he was given instead to John Ewing with a ship boundfor Jamaica.64 Nothing came of this latter arrangement, however. JohnErskine of Carnock records that Lord Neill Campbell, brother of theEarl of Argyll, sailed for New Jersey about the beginning of August,“having got a considerable number of [Covenanting] prisoners giftedhim by the Council”.65 Presumably it was on Barclay’s ship that hesailed, and it appears that Gibb was on board. In October 1685, Gibb isrecorded as being imported to East Jersey by James Johnstone and itseems that he was subsequently indentured to Robert Drummond.66

In the meantime, Ker had been re-arrested, probably during thesummer of 1685. This is said to have happened through the influenceof Joseph Clelland, the curate of the parish of Dalserf in which Kerwas residing.67 Clelland was the curate of Dalserf from 1681-89. On

servants imported by Thomas Gordon, and also “Margrett Stuere” as one of the servantsimported by John Campbell, both in October 1684. Campbell travelled with Gordon onLockhart’s ship so it likely that both these entries refer to the same woman, MargaretStewart. She was indentured for four years and received the headland due to her in May1690; see Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Calendar of Records1664-1703, Vol. 21, pp. 64-5, 189; East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments, p. 440.64 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1685-6 (Third Series, Vol. 11, Edinburgh, 1929),pp. 114, 131, 136, 329. A list of the prisoners (including James Gray) from the EdinburghTolbooth who were delivered to Ewing on 11th August is given in The Book of the OldEdinburgh Club (Edinburgh, 1923), Vol. 12, p. 167.65 Journal of Hon. John Erskine of Carnock, 1683-1687, p. 154. The Earl of Argyll had beenexecuted on 30th June 1685 following his unsuccessful rebellion.66 Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Calendar of Records 1664-1703, Vol. 21, pp. 68, 172. James Johnstone of Spotswood was the eldest son of WilliamJohnstone, minister of Coldstream, who was deprived in 1662 and died about 1670.James Johnstone emigrated to East Jersey at the end of 1684 and died on 22nd June1690. His letters to Scotland bemoan the lack of ministers in East Jersey; see Edith H.Mather, “Andrew Johnston and his Ancestors”, Somerset County Historical Quarterly, Vol. 3(1914, reprinted Lambertville, N.J., 1987), pp. 161-173; East Jersey under the ProprietaryGovernments, pp. 435, 444. Robert Drummond was probably the son of John Drummond,1st Earl of Melfort, ibid., pp. 173-4.67 H. G. Smith, History of the “Old Scots” Church of Freehold (Freehold, N.J., 1895), Appendixp. ii. We have not found an earlier authority for this statement.


3rd September Ker was brought before the Privy Council, tried, andsentenced:

And in regard Walter Ker, one of the said prisoners [in theCanongate Tolbooth], will not own the King’s authority, andrefuses to declare anent his being at Bothwell Bridge, the Lords dobanish him to the plantations in East New Jersey, and ordains himto be delivered to John Johnston, druggist, upon caution in theordinary way.68

John Johnstone was a younger brother of James Johnstone aboveand was an apothecary in Edinburgh. He is probably to be identifiedwith the “John Johnstoun” who was briefly imprisoned in September1684 for non-attendance at church.69 In 1685 he emigrated to East Jerseyon George Scot of Pitlochie’s ship; thus it is seems certain that WalterKer sailed with the Dunnottar prisoners on the Henry and Francis on5th September. After a disastrous voyage, they reached East Jersey inmid-December and Ker was indentured to Thomas Parr, from whomhe received the headland due to him for his indenture on 2nd March1689-90.70 In America, Johnstone acted as a medical doctor and wasinvariably referred to as Dr Johnstone. He was an important figure, bothin New Jersey and in New York.71

5. In East Jersey and New York

Of one of the “Sweet Singers”, Alexander Montgomery (Monteith), thereis no further mention in the New Jersey records. Perhaps he died beforethe end of his indenture, or perhaps he was sold to a master elsewhere.72

68 Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1685-6, Vol. 11, p. 173.69 The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club (Edinburgh, 1916), Vol. 9, p. 157; Journal of Hon. JohnErskine of Carnock, 1683-1687, p. 83.70 Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Calendar of Records 1664-1703, Vol. 21, p. 173.71 For an account of the Dunnottar prisoners, Scot of Pitlochie, the voyage of the Henryand Francis, and Dr John Johnstone, see the author’s “The Dunnottar Covenanters of1685”, Free Presbyterian Magazine, Vol. 112 (2007), pp. 113-119, 137-141, 174-181, 202-209,239-244, 270-8; Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy, pp. 69-71.72 Indentures were ordinarily for four years, but other periods between two and nineyears were known; see “Advertisement to all Trades-men, Husbandmen, Servants andothers who are willing to Transport themselves unto the Province of New-East-Jersy inAmerica”, Bannatyne Miscellany (Edinburgh, 1855), Vol. 3, pp. 385-8; Documents relating tothe Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Calendar of Records 1664-1703, Vol. 21, pp. 61-2.


Of John Gibb, too, there is little further to record. He received the thirtyacres of headland due to him for his indenture on 16th February 1688-9,and he was still resident in East Jersey in November 1692. By 15thJanuary 1694-5, however, he was described as described as a “mariner”and “now of Sussex County, annexed to Pennsylvania”, though he stillheld property in East Jersey.73 According to Patrick Walker, hecontinued his false religion, being “much admired by the heathen for hisfamiliar converse with the devil bodily, and offering sacrifices to him”.Walker says that he died about 1720.74

The subsequent life of David Jamieson, on the other hand, is ofconsiderable interest.75 He was first indentured to George Lockhart, theowner of the ship, who had perhaps appreciated his unusual abilities,and was then sold to Josias Clarke, the chaplain of the Fort at New York,who allowed him to “teach school to redeem himself”.76 About this timehe wrote an atheistical letter to his father in Linlithgow “desiring him notto trouble himself about heaven or hell, for all these things werefancies”.77 In 1690 or soon afterwards, he was employed in the office ofMatthew Clarkson, the son of the well-known Puritan minister DavidClarkson, who was the Secretary of the Province. Here Jamiesonacquired a knowledge of law, and by 1693 he had been appointed theClerk of the Council of New York with a salary of £50 per annum.Governor Fletcher of New York (1692-97) had the highest regard for him.Fletcher’s successor, however, Lord Bellamont (1697-1701), detestedeverything connected with Fletcher and on 28th September 1698 hedismissed Jamieson as Clerk. In a letter to the Lords of Trade on 21stOctober 1698 (and in numerous subsequent letters) he accused Jamiesonof being an atheist and of having two wives:

I also displaced the same day Mr David Jamison from being Clerkof the Councill and Deputy Secretary: he is a Scotchman by birthand was condemned to be hanged in Scotland for blasphemyand burning the bible, but in mitigation of the sentence he was

73 Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Calendar of Records 1664-1703, Vol. 21, pp. 172, 201, 221.74 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 26.75 Our main sources are Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy, p. 40; R. Webster,History of the Presbyterian Church in America (Philadelphia, 1857), p. 302.76 For Josias Clarke, see F. L. Weis, The Colonial Clergy of the Middle Colonies: New York, NewJersey, and Pennsylvania, 1628-1776 (Baltimore, 1978), p. 30.77 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 26.


transported to this Province & sold a servant. He is a professedAtheist and has two wives at this time, if his true one be not deadat Lithgo in Scotland within these twelve months. This man wasfirst in Colonel Fletchers confidence and favour above all others,and he used to commend him to every body for the honestest manhe ever knew in his whole life, one or other. He has inrichedhimself by extortion in his office and other works of darkness, butcheifly ’tis said by the grants of lands sold by Colonel Fletcher, hehaving had a share for brokage.78

In fact, Jamieson was no longer an atheist but, probably under theinfluence of Governor Fletcher, had become an Episcopalian. In May1699, he was a member of the Vestry (i.e. ruling committee) of TrinityChurch, an Episcopalian Church which had been formed two yearspreviously.79 Whether he continued an Episcopalian we do not know.80

Sometime in the 1690s, Jamieson had started practising as anattorney, though Lord Bellamont alleges that he had no formalqualification.81 In 1707, he was one of the attorneys who defendedFrancis Makemie (the so-called founder of American Presbyterianism),following his arrest by the Governor, Lord Cornbury (1701-1708), forpreaching a sermon in a private house in Pearl Street, New York. Thehouse belonged to William Jackson, a shoemaker, who was one ofthe Covenanters imprisoned in Dunnottar Castle. The congregationnumbered about ten, one of whom was Dr John Johnstone.82 Makemie

78 J. H. Brodhead (ed.), Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New Yorkprocured in Holland, England and France: London Documents 1693-1706 (Albany, 1854), Vol. 4,pp. 400, 429, 442, 824. Jamieson must have married a second time in 1697. PerhapsBessie Tod had died by this time. A daughter by his second marriage was married to ason of Dr John Johnstone’s, Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy, p. 72.79 Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York procured in Holland, Englandand France: London Documents 1693-1706, Vol. 4, p. 528. It was presumably in connectionwith the building of Trinity Church in 1697 that Patrick Walker remarks of Jamieson: “Isaw his name at Doctor Nicol’s commission here, for a publick collection of building ofa church there [New York]”, Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 26.80 In 1716, in a charge to the Grand Jury of Burlington County, Jamieson showed aremarkable knowledge of Scripture with “so many pertinent extracts from the Old andNew Testaments that he was thought to be as much of a theologian as a lawyer”, W. A.Whitehead (ed.), Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, 1687-1703(Newark, N.J., 1881), Vol. 2, p. 114. 81 Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York procured in Holland, Englandand France: London Documents 1693-1706, Vol. 4, p. 442.82 Webster, History of the Presbyterian Church in America, p. 302. Webster says that Jamieson,too, was a member of the congregation but we are doubtful on this point.


was acquitted of the charges against him but was forced to pay thesubstantial costs, both for the defence and for the prosecution.83 LordCornbury’s outrageous conduct in connection with the case wasinstrumental in his recall to England in 1708. In 1711, Jamieson washimself appointed Chief Justice of New Jersey, a position which he helduntil 1723. He was still alive in 1725.84

The subsequent life of Walter Ker also merits attention, but we canonly summarize the main points here. He was exceptionally zealous inpromoting religion and Presbyterianism, and about 1690 he wasinstrumental in forming a Presbyterian congregation in Freehold, EastJersey, where he had acquired land. The first American Presbytery, thatof Philadelphia, was formed in 1705 or 1706 (the first page of its recordsis missing), and its first recorded act was the examination for ordinationof John Boyd to be the first minister of Freehold. Boyd died in 1708 andwas followed as minister by the colourful Joseph Morgan, author of TheHistory of the Kingdom of Basaruah (i.e. Flesh-Spirit in Hebrew), publishedin 1715. This is an allegory in imitation of John Bunyan and it has aclaim to be the first American work of prose fiction.

In 1730, Morgan was followed as minister of Freehold by JohnTennent, who died within two years, and then by his brother WilliamTennent, Jr. Under John and William there were extensive revivals ofreligion which contributed to the division of the Synod of Philadelphiainto Old Side and New Side in 1741. Walter Ker took the New Side inthese disputes and in October 1744 he gave his attestation to an accountof the revivals written by his minister. By this time he was eighty-seven.85

He was presumably present on Sabbath 8th June 1746 when DavidBrainerd assisted at the communion in Freehold, accompanied by many

83 The sermon, on Psalm 50:23, was preached on Sabbath 19th January 1706-7 and wasimmediately published. Makemie also published an account of the case, Narrative of a Newand Unusual American Imprisonment of Two Presbyterian Ministers (n.p., 1707), 56pp. Both thesepublications are included in Boyd S. Schlenther, Life and Writings of Francis Makemie(Philadelphia, PA, 1971). Jamieson’s defence of Makemie is on pp. 223-5. Makemie’ssermon is of considerable theological interest, being full of quotations from Scripture buthaving very little of Christ and still less of justification by faith. Doubtless Makemieprofessed to believe that doctrine, but in the sermon he was virtually preaching worksreligion. One can see in such a sermon the seeds of the Old Side/New Side controversyin America and also of the Marrow controversy in Scotland.84 Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, 1687-1703, Vol. 2, p. 114;Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy, pp. 40-1; Documents relating to the ColonialHistory of the State of New Jersey, 1720-1737 (Newark, N.J., 1882), Vol. 5, pp. 77, 139.85 Archibald Alexander, The Log College (Banner of Truth, 1968), pp. 228-237.


of his American Indian converts.86 Ker died on 10th June 1748; and bothhis and his wife’s gravestones are still in existence. He had at least fivesons and it is reckoned that by 1930 he had somewhere between 25,000and 35,000 descendants.87

6. Conclusion

The account of the “Sweet Singers” suggests some obvious comments.One is the extraordinary changes that can occur in human affairs. DavidJamieson, for instance, went from being a near-lunatic imprisoned inEdinburgh in 1681 to being the senior judge in New Jersey in 1711.Here he had to decide delicate points such as how recent Englishlegislation against Quakers was to be interpreted in New Jersey, whereQuakers were numerous and had special liberties established underprevious laws.88

Another matter worth noting is the power of religious delusion.Some of the “Sweet Singers” were deluded for a few months, and severalof them for considerably longer. Most of them recovered; and what isknown of their subsequent lives – especially Ker’s and Jamieson’s –suggests that they were not people of unstable minds. It is not easy toaccount for their period of delusion but it is important to recognise thatsuch things can happen.

Another point is the way in which enemies can take advantage ofcomparatively minor aberrations in the Christian Church. The Gibbiteswere only a tiny proportion of the Cameronians, and were firmly rejectedby them, but their enemies took full advantage of this bizarre move-ment arising in their midst. On the one hand, they discredited theCameronians by identifying them with the Gibbites. Patrick Walker saysof Cargill that “the indulged, silent and unfaithful, lukewarm, complyingministers and professors made no distinction betwixt him and Gibb, butmade it their work by tongue and pen to bury him and his faithfulnessin the ashes of these vile extremes”.89 In the same way, the stateauthorities published the Gibbites “Blasphemous Paper” as though it were

86 “Life and Diary of David Brainerd”, Works of Jonathan Edwards (Banner of Truth, 1988),Vol. 2, pp. 368, 415.87 Armstrong, The Kerr Clan of New Jersey, p. 5.88 W. A. Whitehead (ed.), Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey,1709-1720 (Newark, N.J., 1882), Vol. 4, pp. 230-238.89 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 23.



The gravestones of Walter (above) and Margaret Ker. The inscription on Walter Ker’sgravestone appears overleaf.

[Both photographs courtesy of Tim Taylor, a descendant of Walter Ker]

typical of non-indulged Covenanters. But on the other hand, theauthorities showed by their differing treatment of the Gibbites and theCameronians that they were perfectly able to distinguish between theharmless ravings of the former and the stedfast witness of the latter tocertain unpalatable truths. This sort of inconsistent approach is typicalof opponents of Christianity.

A final point to note is how Walter Ker went from bringing injuryand disgrace on the gospel to being eminently serviceable in its cause.The period when he left Gibb and “turned mad” seems to have been atime of conviction of sin, judging by the subsequent part of his life.Walker said of him that “some of our banished worthies (who were withhim in America, and came home) said to me that he exceeded all ourbanished, that they knew, in prevailing with some to set up the worshipof God in their families, and young ones to pray, and join in societies forprayer and conference”.90 William Tennent, likewise, said that “therewas none so painful” in trying to settle Freehold with a gospel ministryas Walter Ker.91 We think that Walter Ker’s long life in Freehold wouldbe a worthy subject for further investigation.

• • • • • •

Inscription on Walter Ker’s gravestone:

Here lies what’s Mortal of Walter KerDeceased June 10th 1748 in ye 92 year of his Age

who long with Patience Bore life’s heavy loadwilling to spend & to be spent for Godthe noble Portrait in a line to painthe Breath’d a Father liv’d & dy’d a saintHere sleeps in peace the aged sire’s dustTill the glad Trump arouse the sleeping Just

90 Six Saints, Vol. 2, p. 25.91 Log College, p. 228.
